Archive for the ‘Expungement’ Category

Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari partners, Philip M. Aidikoff and Ryan K. Bakhtiari, have filed comments with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning proposed FINRA Rule 2081 (Prohibited Conditions Relating to Expungement of Customer Dispute Information). Proposed Rule 2081 seeks to add additional safeguards to the expungement process by prohibiting the conditioning of the settlement of a dispute with a customer or compensating a public customer for the agreement to consent to, or not to oppose, a request to expunge information from the CRD system.

Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari is an “AV” rated law firm with a worldwide practice representing individuals and institutions in disputes with Wall Street and the financial services industry. Attorneys for the firm regularly appear before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as well as in numerous state and federal courts to resolve financial disputes between customers, employees, banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and other members of the financial services industry.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that its Board of Governors approved a rule proposal that would prohibit firms and associated persons from conditioning settlements of customer disputes on, or otherwise compensating customers for, an agreement not to oppose a request to expunge information from an associated person’s Central Registration Depository (CRD) record. This proposal is designed to help ensure that the CRD system continues to contain information that is critical to investor protection.

FINRA operates the CRD system, which is an online registration and licensing system. The CRD system contains information regarding members and associated persons, including information such as personal, registration and employment history, as well as disclosure information such as criminal matters, regulatory and disciplinary actions, civil judicial actions and information relating to customer disputes. Much of the information in that system is available to investors through FINRA BrokerCheck. Brokers who wish to have customer dispute information removed from the CRD system and, thereby, from BrokerCheck, must obtain a court order directing expungement or confirming an arbitration award containing expungement relief.

The rule proposal will be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for review, public comment, and approval.

Securities arbitration and litigation on behalf of institutional investors, municipalities, high net worth investors, retail investors, individual investors, and employees in California, Texas, New York, Washington D.C. and around the country, including the major metro areas of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Houston, New York, and more. We are securities fraud lawyers/investment fraud attorneys focused on all types of financial fraud cases.